Catholic Traditionalists get a bad rap from many other Catholics, who accuse them of being quick to believe conspiracy theories. I suppose it ain’t a conspiracy when it’s all out in the open:

The largest and most influential Masonic organization in Italy is the Grand Orient of Italy [Grande Oriente d’Italia]. Yes, it is the very same Grand Lodge whose Grand Masters always worked for the humiliation of the Apostolic See, from the battles against Pius IX to symbolic acts of effrontery (such as Giordano Bruno’s statue in Campo de’ Fiori, a response to Leo XIII); it was also the Grand Lodge that once had jurisdiction over the well-known Propaganda Due lodge, the P2, including during the crucial years of the Vatican II Council and immediate aftermath.

This Grande Oriente d’Italia hosted a conference on June 12, 2014, at Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Via Milano, Rome, to promote the book “Il Concilio Segreto” (The Secret Council), by Ignazio Ingrao. On the panel of guests invited to present the book were Marco Politi, journalist and Vaticanist for “La Repubblica” and “Il Fatto Quotidiano”; Alberto Melloni, the very influential historian and a leader of the famous “Bologna School” founded by Giuseppe Alberigo, whose purpose was to establish forevermore the “Spirit of the Council” as the official interpretation of the conciliar documents; Marinella Perroni, theologian, professor at the Pontifical Atheneum of St. Anselm, Rome (the Anselmianum, the Pontifical Benedictine university in Rome), specializing in New Testament Studies; and, last but certainly not least, Stefano Bisi, the newly elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge. The author, Ignazio Ingrao, a highly relevant Vaticanist, was also present.

The meeting was recorded and can be found here in Radio Radicale in its entirety. To give a general idea of the festive and relaxed ambience, Grand Master Bisi in his remarks is proud to say that a priest he consulted told him he certainly “could receive communion.” (Obviously, no contradiction from anyone in the room.)

Read the whole thing. Freemasons joining progressive Catholics in honoring Vatican II, in Rome. If you had made it up, no one would have believed you. But there it is.